Nik's Diary
Indian
markets open in the green, tracking positive opening trades in SGX Nifty and
most of the Asian markets. The US markets witnessed upside during trading on
Friday, benefited from optimism about the situation in Cyprus, although trading
activity was relatively subdued. Some positive sentiment was generated by news
that Cyprus managed to clinch a deal with Greece to spin off the Greek units of
ailing Cypriot banks. European stocks were broadly lower after Standard &
Poor's cut Cyprus' long-term foreign currency credit rating deeper into junk
status, citing "acute problems" in its banking sector and rising
risks of a default. Indian shares ended yet another volatile session lower on
Friday, extending losses for the sixth straight session. There are increasing
concerns about the fate of government's reforms and Cyprus' worries are keeping
investors nervous. Traders are likely to keep an eye on a batch of key US
economic data, including reports on durable goods orders, new home sales, and
Chicago-area business activity.
Diesel
price hiked by 45 paise
Shares
of state-owned oil marking companies (OMC), including refinery stocks have
rallied up to 5% in morning deals after the public sector oil retailers
increased diesel retail prices by 45 paise a litre from Saturday. All
three listed OMC companies - Indian Oil Corporation, HPCL and BPCL are
trading higher by 3% each, while Oil India has surged almost 5% and ONGC is up
4% in early morning deals on BSE compared to less than 1% rise in benchmark
Sensex. This is the second increase in diesel price since February 16th
and third since January. Oil firms had slashed petrol rates sharply by 2.40 per
litre on March 16 as international crude oil prices fell by over $5 per
barrel. IOC said in a statement that even after the current price hike,
the company was incurring a revenue loss of 8.19 per litre. Oil firms' revenue
loss on the fuel was about 11.26 per litre in the previous fortnight. Source: Business Standard
Telcos need
to obtain Unified License, buy spectrum to continue services
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sought opinion
of the law ministry on the proposed unified licencing (UL) regime, and expects
to take a final call on the UL regime soon, said Kapil Sibal, minister of
communications and IT, on Saturday at the National Editors’ Conference,
here. The DoT has proposed an UL regime where the spectrum will be
de-linked from the licences and all companies will have to migrate to the UL
regime. A special committee, which was constituted to prepare Unified
Licence document, has also recommended two licences—Unified License (National)
and Unified Licence (Service Area) for the telecom operators. The committee had
taken the decision after examining the recommendations from the Department of
Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecom regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI). Sibal said that the sector should be “competitive”, and the new
licencing regime will ensure fair competition. However, the DoT is yet to
take a call on the proposed auction of unsold spectrum to abide by an order by
the Supreme Court. “The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom will
take a decision on this soon,” said Sibal. Sibal also said that the
Government hopes to make roaming free nationwide by October this year. “The Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is expected to give its final
recommendations on One Nation One Roaming in July. By October, nation-wide free
roaming will be implemented,” he added. The minister also said that
internet governance is an “oxymoron” and a free medium can not be “governed”.
Internet users should self regulate themselves and use the medium for civilised
discourse, he said, adding, “Just as you we can't abuse each other in public;
similarly we shouldn’t also abuse each other online as well. Online isn’t a
medium to abuse each other”. Source: Business Standard
Nestle India reviews general licensing agreement
FMCG
major Nestle India's board has approved an increase in royalty
payment by 0.20 per cent per year for the next five years to its parent
firm, thereby enhancing it to 4.5 per cent of the sales. Nestle SA
had asked two years ago for a review of the two decades old royalty
rates. The Board of Directors of Nestle India negotiated and Nestle SA
accepted the increase in royalty from 3.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent of sales in
a staggered manner by making an increase of 0.20 per cent per annum over the
next five years effective January 1, 2014, Nestle India said in a
statement. "This will ensure ongoing access to the entire capabilities
of Nestle...and will enable Nestle India to continue to deliver long-term
sustainable profitable growth and Create Shared Value for society and its
shareholders," Nestle India Chairman and Managing Director A Helio Waszyk
said. Nestle India has a General Licence Agreement (GLA) that allows it
access to Nestle Group's intellectual property rights including global
portfolio of brands, proprietary science and technology including over 1,300
patents, extensive research and development capabilities. The GLA includes
access to over 6,000 brands such as Nestle, Maggi and Nescafe and technologies
developed by the global network of 32 research and development centres,
including the one recently inaugurated at Manesar, Haryana. Nestle India's
recent capacity investments of around Rs 3,000 crore have benefited from this,
the company said. It said Amarchand and Mangaldas and Suresh A Shroff & Co,
a law firm advised on the governance process on the review. Shares of
Nestle India on Friday closed at Rs 4,730.10 apiece on the Bombay Stock
Exchange, down 0.49 per cent from its previous close.Source:
Business Today
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